MULTI KPI CORRELATION IN WIRELESS PROTOCOLS

• US 20170208487A1
• Filed: 01/20/2016
• Published: 07/20/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 01/20/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NetScout Systems Texas, LLC (NetScout Systems Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Tektronix Texas, LLC (NetScout Systems Incorporated)
• Inventors: Ratakonda, Balaji, Janakiraman, Vignesh, Curtin, John P.
• Granted Patent: US 10,306,490 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/0631 using root cause analysis; using analysis of correlation between notifications, alarms or events based on decision criteria, e.g. hierarchy, tree or time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 41/064 involving time analysis
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/0817 by checking functioning
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/18 Protocol analysers
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 43/55 Testing of service level quality, e.g. simulating service usage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/04 Arrangements for maintaining operational condition

Abstract

A network monitoring system is provided that includes a processor, a memory coupled to the processor and a database that includes key performance indicator (KPI) records for monitoring a wireless communication system. The network monitoring system further includes a rules engine configured and operable to store in the memory KPI rules associated with at least one rule set. The network monitoring system also includes an analysis engine configured and operable to identify a list of root causes identifying failure events based on the at least one KPI rule in the at least one rule set.

Claims

1. A network monitoring system, the system comprising:

a processor;

a memory coupled to the processor;

a database including a plurality of key performance indicator (KPI) records for monitoring a wireless communication system;

a rules engine configured and operable to store in the memory KPI rules associated with at least one rule set; and

an analysis engine configured and operable to identify, using the processor, one or more root causes of a failure for one or more of the transactions based on at least one KPI rule in the at least one rule set.

2. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the plurality of KPI records corresponds to a plurality of different protocols.

3. The system as recited in claim 2, wherein the analysis engine is further configured and operable to correlate at least two of the plurality of KPI records across the plurality of different protocols.

4. The system as recited in claim 3, wherein the analysis engine is further configured and operable to generate a probability score value for each of the one or more identified root causes.

5. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the analysis engine is further configured and operable to prioritize the identified one or more root causes based on the generated probability score values.

6. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the rules engine generates the at least one rule set using a natural language-like syntax and format.

7. The system as recited in claim 1, wherein the database is further configured and operable to export one or more of the plurality of KPI records to a data file in a predefined format based on a time period associated with the failure and/or based on one or more network elements of the wireless communication system associated with the failure.

8. The system as recited in claim 7, wherein the predefined format comprises at least one of:

a Comma Separated Values (CSV) format, eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format, binary file format and flat file format.

9. The system as recited in claim 4, wherein the analysis engine is further configured and operable to generate a KPI score for each of the one or more identified root causes and wherein the probability score values are generated based on the generated KPI scores.

10. The system as recited in claim 9, wherein the analysis engine is further configured and operable to generate the KPI score based on a number of detected failures exceeding a predefined threshold in the wireless communication system for each of the one or more identified root causes.

11. A method for automatically identifying a root cause of a failure in a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

generating rules associated with a plurality of key performance indicator (KPI) records for monitoring a wireless communication system;

identifying, by a processor, one or more failures in the wireless communication system;

identifying, by a processor, one or more likely root causes associated with the identified one or more failures; and

analyzing, by a processor, the one or more likely root causes by correlating some of the KPI records based on the generated rules.

12. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein the plurality of KPI records corresponds to a plurality of different protocols.

13. The method as recited in claim 12, wherein correlating some of the KPI records further comprises correlating at least two of the plurality of KPI records across the plurality of different protocols.

14. The method as recited in claim 13, wherein analyzing the one or more likely root causes further comprises generating a probability score value for each of the one or more identified root causes.

15. The method as recited in claim 14, wherein analyzing the one or more likely root causes further comprises prioritizing the identified one or more root causes based on the generated probability score values.

16. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein generating rules comprises generating at least one rule set using a natural language-like syntax and format.

17. The method as recited in claim 11, further comprising exporting one or more of the plurality of KPI records to a data file in a predefined format a based on a time period associated with the failure and/or based on one or more network elements of the wireless communication system associated with the failure.

18. The method as recited in claim 17, wherein the predefined format comprises at least one of a Comma Separated Values (CSV) format, eXtensible Markup Language (XML) format, binary file format and flat file format.

19. The method as recited in claim 11, wherein analyzing the one or more likely root causes further comprises generating a KPI score for each of the one or more identified root causes and wherein the probability score values are generated based on the generated KPI scores.

20. A computer program product for automatically identifying a root cause of a failure in a wireless communication system, the computer program product comprising:

one or more computer-readable storage devices and a plurality of program instructions stored on at least one of the one or more computer-readable storage devices, the plurality of program instructions comprising;

program instructions to generate rules associated with a plurality of key performance indicator (KPI) records for monitoring a wireless communication system;

program instructions to identify one or more failures in the wireless communication system;

program instructions to identify one or more likely root causes associated with the identified one or more failures; and

program instructions to analyze the one or more likely root causes by correlating some of the KPI records based on the generated rules.